Just so you know, take mine and I will switch carriers. You promised that I would be grandfathered, and you are threatening to break that promise. I don't do business with companies that break promises. It's that simple. Ask Netflix.
Yeh I heard about this. They won't take it away until your contract ends. By that time I plan on switching too. You can keep the unlimited plan if you keep your old phone or buy your new phone at full retail price. All the other carriers are not really unlimited anyway.
With the statement made yesterday, it sounds like they will be making everyone switch to one of the new costlier plans this summer. That will send me somewhere else.
You still are under a contract so unless your contract ends this summer, they can't change the plan on you or the rules of that contract you are still under. Mine ends in Feb 2013 so by then I hope to find something else. That "average user uses 1gb of data" is nonsense to me.
I use my phone for music on way to work by using internet radio through the bluetooth, send and receive emails for work, check webpages..by the end of the month I use over 5gb sometimes. This month I used 12gb! And I am rarely ever on facebook or those social apps on my phone.
It doesn't take long to rack up the data usage, which is probably where they are seeing the business opportunity. They can change the terms of contracts at any time, but that would give you an out if they try to do it before the contract ends. Whatever day they do this to me is the day I move.
Especially with 4g, you can go over 2gb in less than 30 min if you don't know how to manage apps on your phone and they are updating data frequently. I hear metro pcs has unlimited but that is only up to 1gb after that it is slowed down. Not many choices to go to but hopefully something comes up. Your other option is to buy a phone on ebay used, or full retail price and activate it on your contract.
Of course its a business opportunity, they use the average GB speech to draw people in when in reality these new 4g speed phones are always syncing in the background if you don't turn them off, most people won't though because they are not familiar how to or will not root their phones.
Question!!! I just upgraded to 4G, new phone. They inform me of return policy and other stuff, like you are doing a two year contact and this will not effect your current plan (unlimited data). But!!! they never inform me of the change going to happen. If they did, I would have gone with a regular phone and opt out of the data plan....
Breach of contact! If this happens, they need to offer the option to down grade at no coast to the consumer.
Another example we can force this on you. Will coast you more. Or you can drop them or down grade and it will still coast you... A win, win for BIG RED...
Communist action...
USMC, 89-97
they aren't "taking" anything away. if you currently have unlimited data, you can keep it for as long as you like. you will only be forced to select a new tiered data plan if or when you sign a NEW contract. don't ever sign a new contract and you'll keep it for as long as you like.
According to Fran Shammo, the Chief Financial Officer, those days are over. According to the new plan, you will be forced into one of the tiered family share plans. If that is not the case, Verizon needs to be jumping into damage control mode. I'm not seeing that happen.
they already have. most recent statement:
As we have stated publicly, Verizon Wireless has been evaluating its pricing structure for some time. Customers have told us that they want to share data, similar to how they share minutes today. We are working on plans to provide customers with that option and will introduce new plans later this year.
When the new options are introduced, Unlimited Data will no longer be available to our customers purchasing handsets and signing a new contract. Customers who choose to purchase phones at full retail price and are currently on an unlimited smartphone data plan will be able to keep that plan. The same pricing and policies will apply to all 3G and 4GLTE smartphones.
We will share specific details of the plans well in advance of their introduction so customers will have time to evaluate the plans and make the best decisions for their wireless service. It is our goal and commitment to continue to provide customers with the same high value service they have come to expect from Verizon Wireless.
And that is not a take away how? Is there something positive there that I'm missing?
MikeH1962 wrote:Just so you know, take mine and I will switch carriers. You promised that I would be grandfathered, and you are threatening to break that promise. I don't do business with companies that break promises. It's that simple. Ask Netflix.
MikeH1962 wrote:
Verizon never promised anything... When they made the change to the data plans about a year they reported that a user would be able to keep their unlimited plan on the "Grandfather" clause but since time has passed the company isnt forced to keep this policy forever.
I am not happy about this change either but basically they are suppling the option that the customers have been requesting for some while, to be able to share data on their accounts.. I just wish that they wouldnt be forcing users that are already on the plan to change their plan with the next upgrade..
But basically this isnt surprising I figure it would hit sooner or later...
I'm getting pretty sick of the stunts VZ keeps pulling. Took away: 1. Merits Program 2.Took away Unlimited data (except grandfathered customers) 3. No more "New every two" program 4. Ruined a "Nexus" device with Verizon bloatware. How about this Verizon, I'll pay full price for the phone and you let me keep my unlimited data and let me pay for service at an Un-subsidized price. Seems pretty fair to me! I've been with VZ for well over a decade and pretty much made up my mind it's about time to explore other options. You were good while it lasted but now you are just being plain greedy. Pretty sad that VZ has the most advanced 4G network in the US and it cripples its own customers on how they can use it. Defeats the purpose doesn't it?
As a long time VZ subscriber, and data user I am one of those WHO HAS NOT ABUSED THE SERVICE. But I must now be subjected to their punitive approach to 'revenue enhancement'. Even though it still wouldn't be fair to 'penalize' those who use excessive amounts of data,(considering it was supposed to be unlimited), they want to restrict all of us for the excesses of a few. While my comments are not intended to offend people who need to and do use lots of data, I feel like a fourth grader and the entire class is being sent to detention because someone talked. And while EVEN the 'so called' leak on Wednesday was ACTUALLY quite scripted and hardly accidental, it did inflame passions. All the while we only have a thin and vague image of what we will be 'migrated' to. To take things away without presenting the alternative is IRRESPONSIBLE. I NEED MORE THAN A 'CONCEPT'. I will need to upgrade 2 additional lines to data use before long and yet they offer me nothing more than ideas and corporate speeches to Wall street. Customer (dis)service was woefully unprepared for this announcement, and I am appalled that while I just paid the 'upgrade fee' but received erroneous and ineffective answers from their reps, I cannot penalize them by ANY means, people WE HAVE ALLOWED MONOPOLY (actually duopoly) practices to evolve in this situation. Look around, corporations control EVERY other aspects of our lives. Verizon isn't looking out for our interest, that's our job. They just want the money, and if they can slide in another 'wheel tax' and we let it stand, then we have let ourselves down. Life is complicated nowadays, and we do reap the benefits of technology but it's up to us to stay informed and stop thinking that the first answer we get is the complete and final picture. VZ will continue to walk a fine line of accuracy when they say they are not pulling our grandfathered unlimited plans, what they ARE doing is, 'incentivizing' that shift. Basically bribing us with 'a good deal on a phone' to change. The best thing that came from this down economy is that we increased our consumer awareness and realized our only power is in our purse. SAD BUT UNDENIABLE. GET ACTIVE PEOPLE SPEAK YOUR MIND BUT DO MORE HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE whether a VZ corp our in WASH DC
Does anyone know once your contract is up, you get charged month by month correct? They do not force you to renew the contract. I have some friends and they had 2 year contracts but since the expiration date ran out and they did not upgrade either, they are billed the same each month. If that is the case once a contract ends, then either buy your "new" data phone online used, paying full price will be ridiculous. Even if you get an older modeI so be it. I barely use the phone's data although I am always on it, and it goes over 2GB easily.
I wonder say, if you have unlimited data now, contract expires, you buy a phone on ebay, one that you like but is not so new and it is 4G, does your unlimited data still count or because it is 4G you have to switch to a tier structure?
according to the supervisor i talked to..if i have a 3g phone (fascinate) and at the end of my contract i get a used 3g phone,from amazon , ebay or even a refurb from verizon.. im still in that unlimited package... do i sign another 2 year contract? and do i stilll get unlimited data if i buy my own 4g network phone?
I am guessing and hoping that as long as you don't sign a new contract and you don't buy the phone at a discount through Verizon you will get to keep your data. But most places like amazon or Best buy will try to sell you the phone with a new contract so be careful. It could also be that they put it in wrong and somehow your contract is renewed. I guess you would just tell them you want the phone by itself, no contract. If you look, those phone prices at Best Buy/Amazon include a contract.
so if i buy a refurbed phone from ..like ebay.. do i pay month to month? or do i have to do a 2 year contract? im confused on that
At the end of your contract, you will end up paying month to month and you will keep your unlimited data since you did not sign a new contract or buy a phone at the discount of Verizon. I have a company discount at my company of 19% on phones and items but this would require I think signing a new contract.
Yeh I don't need speed as much as I need consistency and unlimited usage. I go well over 4gb at times. 10 dollars per gb is retarted, its like paying your home internet bill each month for a cell phone.
just talked to another rep he said that you can get a 4g phone, on ur own, the only way ur kicked out of the package, is if you get a new phone thru Verizon.u can get ur own phone and sign up for a another 2 year contract if u wanted and still be in unlimited
You could get a 4G phone for 199 right now as long as you renewed the contract and still have unlimited because they haven't set these new tiers/rules in place yet. But I don't know if I want to be stuck until 2015 in a contract. Plus there aren't that many favorite 4G phones with ICS out right now.
i believe even when this all comes into play, it's still in effect that you can get a new phone and still be unlimited as long as not purchased thru verizon
If you have unlimited data and hotspot you are paying more than that anyway...
No need for hotspot I don't have a tablet or the need to use internet every single place I travel to.
Basically there is no way to supply billing to supply every users preferences... If you are not a heavy data user this account should benefit you at the 10.00 per gig, if you use the minimal 2 gig plan the billing would be 20.00 verse the 30.00 that it is now.
Sometimes its wise to look at both sides of the deal before simply not accepting it as a option.
From what Verizon has said if one goes month-to-month and buys their own phone one can keep their grandfathered unlimited data plan. What Verizon is not saying is that once a customer goes month-to-month Verizon can (AT ANY TIME) take away the grandfathered data plan and there is NOTHING the customer can do except LEAVE or bend over and take it from Verizon.
Verizon knows exactly how many grandfathered unlimited data plan customers they have. If their own internal forecasts regarding customer loss due to customers leaving over this issue are within their acceptable forecast parameters Verizon will not care. If many more millions of customers leave then their forecast predicts, then Verizon might actually give a you-know-what since a drastic drop in customer retention rate and overall customer numbers will get the attention of Wall Street and impact their stock price. Should be interesting to see if Verizon guesses right when it comes to their customer losses over this issue and how it plays out.
I too am not happy with Verizon but then again I have been dealing with Verizon's various divisions for 25+ years now and nothing they do surprises me any more. For Verizon it is all about their bottom line and customer service be damned. They have proven that more times over the years than there are posts in this thread and all the other threads about this topic combined.
I am taking a wait and see approach to this announcement since my current contract has a few more months left on it and Verizon is dragging their lazy butt in upgrading my area to LTE. Once they get their butt in gear and get LTE up and running (not holding my breath) then maybe I will look at a new LTE phone and decide how I want to proceed with my data plan.
For 20 years or more, an upgrade contract was mearly meant to cover the costs of a discounted phone. Suddenly in the past 6 years, they have decided that you must change your service contract too. This to me really is why contracts with carriers should be outright outlawed. They have no valid reason anymore (other than to cover the actual costs of the discounted hardware) to justify to the FCC why that they are not abusing their allotted licenses from the federal govt.
Those licenses have always been meant to not only allow a company to have exclusive rights to those frequencies, but to also provide a cost effective general service to the American people who ultimately own the rights to these frequencies. These companies DO NOT OWN THE FREQUENCIES! They lease them under certain conditions, and I think that they have pretty much violated their leases with the way they force things upon their "customers", such as data plans, or 2 year contracts, instead of 1 year contracts.
Dont get me wrong. I think that they should get a reasonable return on their investments. But when they charge unreasonably expensive data plans, plus text plans, plus upgrade fees to get a new phone, on top of a new expensive monthly plan (because suddenly you cant keep your old one), or you have to pay $650 for a new phone because they no longer have cost effective phones for the average customer.
It really is crazy how that they can justify the cost of a "high end phone" vs a "feature phone". There really shouldnt be the huge cost difference between the two that there is now. I bet in the next 2 years, they force everyone into a new 4g smart phone because they wont have any 4g "feature phones".
So the average phone bill goes up from around $60 a few years ago to over $130/month now. How is the average customer not getting screwed? And the idea that "you can just go to another carrier" doesnt work when carriers like VZW has bought up almost all the competition. They are now a monopoly and should be treated as such according to the "sherman act".
I dont think you understand what monopoly means..
>Your signature constitutes cross posting as it includes a link to another site. Cross posting is not permitted per the VZW ToS. The link to the site is available in another thread<
Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator
I don't know what all the fuss is about. My wife and I just got 2 new phones yesterday and kept our unlimited data plans, as long as you do it in person with somebody who knows what they're doing it's not a problem
That's true for now. Sometime this summer that will change. When Verizon introduces their new shared data plans, you will no longer be able to keep your unlimited data if you sign a new 2 year contract. Any new 2 year contract will require you to choose from the tiered data plans or the shared data plans. So, if you want to keep your unlimited data, do not sign a new contract. That means that after the changes go into effect, you'll have to pay full retail price for new phones or buy them somewhere else if you want to keep your unlimited data. When your 2 year contract expires, you will revert to month-to-month. Of course, there are no guarantees how long unlimited data will last. Once our contracts have expired, Verizon can cancel unlimited data anytime they want and I expect they will.
I guess I'm glad my old phone broke then, otherwise we would have waited til september when our upgrades were due.
I just signed up for Verizon Wireless today and called customer service to see if I could get unlimited data and they totally added it for me!! Verizon Wireless still offers unlimited data you just have to ask politely!
Ya may want to go online and verify. The code is no longer available, however there is a way to get it and maybe ya knew how to.
Yeh you have it for now or how ever long you signed your contract for. Once those changes take affect asking nicely won't do anything for you. I plan on getting my next phone on Ebay. I don't really need the latest and the newest phone.
You will keep unlimited data when your contract expires. You will revert to month-to-month. If you sign a new contract after the changes take effect, you will lose unlimited data.
Yeh month to month is fine for me, I'm not planning on signing a new contract anyway. Most likely I will get an unlocked phone which I can use on different carriers. I would rather pay full retail for a phone than be in another 2 year contract with a data tiered plan. I always go over the 2-4GB because of listening to music from Pandora/Radio apps on my way to and from work.
actually they weren't talking about just sharing data there coming out with plans for sharing everything unlimited mins text and data
http://news.verizonwireless.com/news/2012/06/pr2012-06-11e.html
I gotta say I'm a little bit amazed by the prices tho imo the $30 (basic phone) and $40 (smart phone) access line makes no sense really
Yeh I would have no use for that. I have one smart phone and one basic phone and I barely use minutes the basic phone uses more than me sometimes. The current family plan I have now is cheaper. Then charging 60 for 2gb of data, that is pretty crazy. Sharing 2gb of data is nothing, between say 2 devices that limit would be reached in no time. Then I suppose it would be 10 bucks extra per GB.
I suppose if someone has 3-4 data phones on one account and they all rarely use data, it could work out, but the more phones, the more data is used. Unless its 2gb per device not total, but I don't think it is.
I find it hard to believe that anyone asked to share data.. not dumb enough to believe that line!!
You can delete the link to sign a petition if you want.. Its easily googled, its also all over Facebook!
Instead of $10 access that it is now?
um depends on how you look @ that Annie... it's only $10 access line if you don't have unlimited mins and have 2 (or more) add line/s if u only have 1 add line then u actually pay $30 more than u would with a single plan (unless u have unlimited texting then it's $40 more)
If u have unlimited add line/s it's $50 (or $49.99) so it's saving $20 for basic phones and $10 for smartphones however there sticking to every line on the acct now rather u have 1 line or 5 lines
Message was edited by: Derek32880
All,
Here is a copy of my email to: John Bianchi, V.P. National Customer Service.
Hello,
I am writing to share my disappointment with Verizon's decision to stop honoring the "Unlimited Data" option for grandfathered customers. Your new Tiered price plans are significanly more expensive while offering a measly 6GB per phone.
Two years ago I was promised by your company that my Unlimited Data would be grandfathered and honored on all future purchases so long as I didn't cancel my accounts. This enticed me to stay with Verizon instead of switching to AT&T. Recently I tried to upgrade my four iphone 4S' to 5S' and to my surprize was informed that Unlimited Data was no longer available; unless I purchased Retail phones to add to my account.
This is a clear BREACH OF CONTRACT, as I was informed and promised alternative terms. I have attempted to contact your company eight times and told that my Unlimited Data plan would no longer be honored. My intent is to pursue enforcement of these verbal contracts, which I believe are legally binding based on the activities and accomodations you have conducted during my contract term.
Therefore, this is formal notification to Verizon Wireless of my intent of litigating this matter, due to your company's intentional practice to misinform and mislead your customers for financial gain. This is arguably a direct violation of Antitrust laws and FCC rules. Additionally, an effort to facilitate Class Action will be initiated.
If you wish to avoid this legal action please arrange approval for immediate upgrade of all four iphone devices for new iphone 5S phones with two year contract pricing, in accordance with my current plan terms including the Unlimited Data plan.
Additionally, my Upgrade Date on device #4657 does not reflect the 20 month upgrade option that was represented at time of purchase.
If your written response via mail or email is NOT received before 5pm on Oct 3, 2013, pursuit of legal action will be initiated.
Respectfully,
xxxxxx
